Jews to help poor, pray for soldiers on Passover - EDITORIAL

The first full day of the ancient observation of Passover--the event that led to the captive Jews in Egypt being freed from bondage--is Monday, March 25.

Passover continues until Tuesday, April 2.

Jewish families and friends will gather for the Passover seder -- the traditional service at home, with prayer, songs and readings from the Haggadah with a communal meal of symbolic foods. As they celebrate Passover, the celebratory mood will be tempered by deep concern for friends and neighbors who have felt the harsh effects of the economic recession.

On the first two nights of the Passover, Jews celebrate the feast of seder, or "order" of the service. It is marked by the retelling of the story of the book of Exodus -- how Moses led some 700,000 Jews out of Egypt around 1,500 B.C.

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The Passover observance is 3,000 years old. For about the past 2,000 years, it has occurred around the time Christians celebrate Easter. Yet every year, while Jews remember their ancestors' exodus, there are modern applications to the celebration.

Last year, Jews in Metro Detroit focused on working to stop human trafficking. It was based on a forum conducted in 2011 by the Bloomfield Hills-based Jewish Community Relations Council, in conjunction with metropolitan-area groups, including the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse, National Council of Jewish Women, Jewish Women's Foundation and Chaldean Federation of America.

This year, the Detroit Jewish community says it will further its ongoing commitment to help those in need by participating in Hunger Seders, special events designed to educate our community and to mobilize activists in the fight against hunger.

In addition to helping those under the violence of hunger and poverty, Jews will pray for our nation's armed services personnel and for Israelis who are threatened by Iran and extremists in that region, and to Jews in countries where anti-Semitism is on the rise.

The Arab revolutions bring significant change to the Middle East and uncertainty to an Israel already surrounded by unfriendly regimes.

"During Passover, the Jewish community will continue to pray for peace here and abroad, for security and for victory in the war on terror," the Jewish Community Relations Council said.

We all hope that this year's Passover helps those in need as well as fostering peace.

President Obama said on Israeli TV on March 14 that Iran is about "a year away from developing a nuclear weapon." So there is still time, but not much, to stop this dangerous change in political power in the Mideast. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly has said it will never allow the Iranians to develop nuclear capability.

Let us, of all religions, join Jewish cause in praying war can be averted. And we hope the new pope Francis I, who appears to have a gift of communication and humility, can serve some role to get the Israelis and Iranians to pull back from the edge of annihilation.